Nerlens Noel...

I can definitely see him being a bust. I've seen him play against Shaq Cleare in high school and he was mauled. He did nothing in the Hoops Summitt. I don't see how ESPN ranked him ahead of Muhhammad. I see him as a best case scenario: Ekpe Udoh

I am dissappointed that he went to Kentucky instead of Georgetown where they actually develop big men. I think Noel is definitely overrated and comparing him to Anthony Davis is ridiculous. I think Kentucky will be EXTREMELY overrated next year and they will inevitably be ranked top 5 in the pre-season.

I could see him being like Drummond this year and having a disappointing year. I think he will be a good NBA player eventually, but he is pretty raw right now. I think he will have his ups and downs in college.

I think in Kentucky's system he will have a better year than Drummond did. I am not saying he will be Anthony Davis, as that is a very difficult comparison, but big men in Kentucky get a chance to put up numbers in the dribble drive game. At the least, Noel can score with his athleticism by running the floor in transition and scoring off of rebounds. The perimeter talent at Kentucky will help him be more productive than if he went to a team like Georgetown, that has less offensive talent on the perimeter to help him get open looks.

And Calipari does seem to really get the most out of his freshman. Most of his high recruits do live up to reasonable expectations fairly well.

I don't wanna hear this anymore! last year everyone was on his sack and shaft comparing him to every shot blocking legend you can think of and the kid picks Kentucky and everyone wants to bash him......if he had've chose cuse or gtown yall would still be singing his praises but since he went to the "dark side" everyone wants to pick away at him.......

Noel's size, athleticism, and coordination will ensure that he is not devoid of an offensive game at the college level. In the NBA, his physical gifts wouldn't be enough to make him effective on offense, but he will be so physically dominant at the college level, that even if he shows no ability to find the open spot in the defense and no ability to create his own shot, he will still make some impact on offense. And I bet college coaching will help him start to develop from a skills perspective.

I agree with you on the point that ESPN putting Noel over Muhammad is pretty much unjustifiable, but calling him a bust and a best case scenario Epke Udoh seems a bit premature and over the top. I think this is an overraction to his disappointing performance at the Nike Hoop Summit. I see him with a stat line of maybe 12 PPG 9 REB and 4 BLK. He's not as good as Anthony Davis, but he should fit in nicelt with their up-tempo system, and should be able to score a handful off of alley-oops and offensive rebounds. I don't see him being a star in the pros before, I've said it before and I'll say it again, he'll be like Marcus Camby 2.0, and have a solid albeit unspectacular career as a rebounder and shot-blocker.

"Noel's size, athleticism, and coordination will ensure that he is not devoid of an offensive game at the college level. In the NBA, his physical gifts wouldn't be enough to make him effective on offense, but he will be so physically dominant at the college level, that even if he shows no ability to find the open spot in the defense and no ability to create his own shot, he will still make some impact on offense. And I bet college coaching will help him start to develop from a skills perspective."

you cant leave him open inside cus of his reach and the potential next to him is going to lead to that happening

I'm going to play the devil's advocate here for a laugh, but I'm saying Noel will have an almost identical season to Anthony Davis individually, but less team success because the team won't be as good. If anything, Noel showing how easy it is to block shots in Kentucky's system will make everyone take a second look at how "great" Anthony Davis' season was.

Now, while that could happen, a lot of the credit for Davis' impact defensively can be given to the perimeter guys at Kentucky who pressured opposition players into throwing up shots under pressure for Davis to block from the weak side. Unfortunately, Noel doesn't have that sort of talent around him this season, Miller, Lamb and of course, MKG are all gone, so he won't have that added benefit.

But a compromise is for me to say that Kentucky's system will make Noel look good, Calipari works wonders with shot-blockers at the college level.

I've never seen him play, but he seems like he's cut from the same cloth as Anthony Davis, minus some handle and jump shooting. The crazy thing is that they nabbed Willie Cauley who is a legit 6'10 or 6'11'' and an extremly imposing shot blocker in his own right. The two of them playing together in a college lineup is game changing on defense.

The thing is that Calapari seems to get the best out of his recruits. You had Cousins wanting to play on the perimiter and Cal got him to be a back to the basket big man. Anthony Davis was seen as a Kevin Garnett type and Cal played him like a Dwight Howard type for half the season on offense (basically just alley oops trasition etc). I could see Noel being used by Cal basically the same way Roy used Ed Davis and Brandan Wright a few years back. I don't expect Noel to try to show to much on offense maybe a jump hook here and there. Defense is his strength and the reason he is the #1 prospect in the country.